Upstream vs. Downstream Casting: What 25 Years on Moving Water Taught Me About Boat Positioning
If you want to know whether a river fisherman understands moving water, don't look inside his tackle tray. Look at which direction his bow is pointed. Nine out of ten casual river boaters I run across do the exact same thing: they motor up to a beautiful gravel shoal or rocky current seam, drop anchor right in the middle of the flow, and cast downstream. They cast downstream because it feels comfortable. The current pulls their line tight, their lure vibrates vigorously without them having to crank the handle, and they feel like they have total control over the bait. And that is precisely why they go home with sore arms and an empty livewell. In moving water, casting downstream is a mechanical and biological dead end for three reasons: First, predators in a river never face downstream. River fish—whether we are talking about smallmouth bass, river walleye, or trophy catfish—are bound by the strict physics of fluid dynamics. They orient their noses directly into the current, holding...